To ensure that you receive support from an assistant in the virtual world the same way you would receive if someone was sitting in your office, you should follow these steps:

1. Make sure that you can take a test drive with a Virtual Assistant. If you have to sign up and pay a monthly retainer right from the get go, you may waste your money for that month. First, see if you can hire by project-based. That means if you have a project in mind, and not one that is VERY important, like a PowerPoint presentation you need the next day to help you land that BIG client. This means, something small that you’ve been pushing back for a while and just can’t seem to get to it. Outsource that ONE project to a Virtual Assistant. See how they do!

2. When you hire a Virtual Assistant for that FIRST project, you want to look at how that VA responds to email correspondence. If they are taking up to a few hours to return an email, this may be a red flag to you in future projects. You want a Virtual Assistant to respond almost immediately. If you can’t get in touch with a VA in regards to ANY projects you have her or him doing, this will hurt your business. Especially, if a project was turned in and you have immediate questions right before you have to present that particular project to a client, OR if you need a contact number right away. The same goes for phone and fax. If they don’t return you call or confirm that they’ve received a fax that you have sent to them, these are red flags, especially in the beginning. A GOOD virtual assistant will make every possible step to ensure your trust, ESPECIALLY in the beginning, and will continue throughout your contracted duration.

3. Make SURE you sign an outsourcing agreement with an independent virtual assistant or a virtual assistant company. If they don’t supply their clients with an outsourcing agreement, then move along. This will cover you financially, if you are not happy with their services OR if they did something illegal by selling your ideas/information to someone else, you can go back to them and request a FULL refund; this line should be in the agreement. Of course, we all know the impossibility of refunds when doing business, but at least your have a free mind when and if your Virtual Assistant does something unethical and you DO have a legal document in case it’s something major that you have to seek legal advice. An Outsourcing Agreement CLEARLY spells out client confidentiality AND the nature of the job, whether it be retainer-based, on-going assistance or JUST one project.

4. Listen to the tone of your virtual assistant on the phone and how they explain their business and handle the conversation. You want to make sure that if this person grew with you and your business, that they are capable and competent to speak to potential clients, confirm appointments or negotiate deals. How they speak to you about their business is how they are going to speak to YOUR clients, if the need arises. You also want to find out what their background was prior to starting their VA company!

5. AND LAST, ALWAYS ask about the virtual assistant’s capacity. Meaning how many hours/week or month they can take on and if they have a back up plan in case that virtual assistant gets more clients AFTER you. She/He may not be busy right now, so they will be able to give you their undivided attention, HOWEVER, with Virtual Assistant companies becoming more and more popular, YOUR virtual assistant who was very good at returning emails/phone calls and turning your projects around really quickly, may get to the point where your communication with her/him starts to slow down. SO, in the VERY beginning ASK about capacity, and then ask about back-up plans, ESPECIALLY if they are just an independent virtual assistant. At the same time, if you have become very comfortable with your va, ask during the initial interview: “If things start picking up with you and we have been working together for awhile, am I going to just be pushed to a different virtual assistant”. This is very important to ask, b/c you can request to continue to use you. YES, maybe some of the projects might be pushed to another VA, but you want to CONTINUE to correspond with your VA. This also eliminates your need to explain to a new VA what you need, as the VA that you work with can do the explaining to the VA who make take on some of the work flow.

If you follow these steps, you will be on your way to hiring a GREAT Virtual Assistant that you are happy with and WILL SAVE YOU money, b/c it will save you time. After all, TIME IS MONEY!!

First, let me tell you a little about my background. I graduated in 1999 with a degree in business management and executive office procedures. Since moving to Philadelphia from Western, Pennsylvania eight years ago, I’ve worked with 3 of the top producing investment firms in Philadelphia and most recently, spent 2 years in banking for Wachovia. I’ve dealt with the marketing side of these firms as well as administered high profile client’s quarterly investment portfolios, prepared client marketing material such as pitch books, equity strategies, company prospectus, and dealt with the over-all administration side of the departments in which I’ve worked. I have a compiled 10 plus years in administration and marketing.

Many of you probably know what a virtual assistant is or have heard of them before. But, how many of you know what actually goes into a va company or how it works? A VA’s office is set up at home, just like it would be at the client’s office. They work with email, fax, scanners, phone, cell, and sometimes even skype. The difference between independent projects and a virtual assistant company is that I have the ability to not only use my home office for many of the projects my clients need, but I can also go into their office, but still not be viewed as an employee. This cuts their costs, not only do they not have to pay the employee extras, but they can also write off the expenses as a professional business expense. What may take a VA an hour or so to complete, may take you hours because of all the distractions and necessary projects that have to be done. Our goal is to be sure that after you realize what just one hour can do for your business, imagine what five or ten hours can do!

Every core of your business starts with the administration of your business. When you think of how you run your business, you first need to think about the basics of admin. And you also have to realize that this term changes with the times, just like with anything else. With every new advance in technology comes with changing the core of your business, your administration. For example, on-line social networking. You should involve your business with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, updating regularly to stay current. You should be back-linking your own website with other high Page Ranking Sites. You should research other business owners blogs and get online articles written about your company. This takes a ton of time and research and how many of you have the time to invest in that? How many people in your network of contacts have the time to invest in this? If you’re not social networking on-line, you need to be.

All organizations need timely and effective office and administrative support to operate efficiently. If you know of someone that doesn’t have this, this is a good referral for me.

Now, why me? Why Independent Projects. Because I’m VERY experienced in my profession, because I take pride in my work and because my clients’ needs come first above anything else. Because my clients’ success is also my own success. I cannot stay in business if I don’t provide my clients with the utmost professionalism. Because I know administration, I’ve worked with every different type of personality from a client’s side to a manager’s side. I know people and I know what they need as far as administration goes. I know how to speak intelligently to prospects; I know what a letter needs to say when you are introducing your services to someone.

Independent Projects IS the company YOU can feel confident about referring to your contacts. If you get me in contact with them, I can meet with them one on one, discuss their administrative and social on-line marketing needs and create a plan that WILL work for them. Plans that will free up their time to focus on their clients, business development OR just spend more time with their family. Just a few things that I can do under an hour:

· Create a viable prospect list of 25-30 contacts.
· Create an Email campaign.
· Data Entry of a minimum of 75 contacts in an Excel spreadsheet.
· Create correspondence for a client or prospect.
· Create a PowerPoint presentation
· Research travel, hotel and meeting facilities.
· Update and manage your calendar.
· Transcribe a half hour of audio.
· Do all of the Research for a project.
· Book your flight, hotel, and/or rental car reservations.
· Delete spam accumulated in your e-mail overnight, and sort, answer, or redirect remaining messages

If I can do each one of these things in under an hour, think about what I can do for your contacts in 5 to 10 hours per week.

If someone says I don’t know how or haven’t started to twit, tweet, link, space or face, forward my website to them!